CAP Assists in Rescuing Navy Crash Victims

[AirAux]

Not unless we get a ribbon..

[jimmydeanno]

^I'd prefer if it were a sash...

[nesagsar]

^I'd prefer if it were a sash...

Or a stylish new hat.

[vmstan]

Did you watch the video? They got coins! 

Seriously though. Very cool, nice of the Navy to throw a little party for everyone. Some luck CAP members got a lot of face time in the video towards the end.

[tdepp]

Everybody happy now?
http://www.wvnstv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=76546

River:

Thanks for the link.  Sounds like a difficult mission successfully accomplished through the help of a number of agencies.  Thank God there was no loss of life.

As a current APAO for my squadron and wing and former broadcast journalist and manager, media outlets don't always simply regurgitate every press release they get.  (They obviously do use some but not all.)  And if the reporter or editor doesn't know what CAP is, the release might just get read (if lucky) then tossed.  And if a release about this came from the USAF or USN first, that's going to carry more weight than a release from CAP.  The service branches have paid people to do this, so they are probably in a better position to respond quicker.  Remember, we're volunteers with other jobs.  So there's probably going to be a delay at times when our release goes out.

So, the PAO may well have done their job and their version of the rescue participation didn't get picked up until later in the reporting of the story like River linked to here.  Perhaps one of the lessons here is to make sure your squadron, group, and wing have PAOs that either have good contacts with the media from previous or current work with them and or they make it a priority to get to know our friends in the local media.  From my broadcasting days, believe me, I was more likely to at least read a press release or take a phone call from a publicist if I knew them than if I didn't know them.  It's just human nature.  And in return, if I had questions about a story or potential story, I'd call them because I knew I could trust them.

We're all in the people meetin' business in CAP in my opinion.  That results in more recruitment and better relationships with the media, first responders, law enforcement, the business community, politicians, and everyone else who we either might help or whose assistance we could use.

Again, bravo to the folks in West Virginia from all the groups who put it on the line to help others.  It is inspiring.

[SARDOC]

Can you put 14 people in a Blackhawk helicopter?  I know it says
MH-60.  The "M" designates Special Operations.  I am wondering
if the Navy is quiet on this because the passengers may have been
"special".  When I was in the Army Reserve I trained at Fort Pickett.
We saw very serious, VERY heavily armed non US Army special people
walking around ,flying around,and blowing up stuff.  I hope the passengers and crew recover.

All H-60 airframes in the Navy will be MHs very shortly. They will be a two airframe fleet consisting of MH-60R and MH-60S. M only means multi-mission not spec ops.

The only H60 airframes in the navy that were specifically designed for the CSAR/SpecOps missions were the HH60H's.  The navy had a limited number of these in the number of about 12. However they are currently being phased out for the MH type...there are even a few SH types out there but not many